Train Crew Is Blamed in Fatal Crash

A railroad crash that killed three Metrolink passengers and injured more than 260 in Placentia last year was caused by an inattentive freight train crew that missed a warning signal, federal investigators said Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the probable cause of the accident was a failure by Burlington Northern Santa Fe crew members to heed a yellow signal instructing the engineer to slow to 30 mph. Instead, investigators said, the train picked up speed to about 50 mph -- too fast to stop when it approached a red light 90 seconds later.

Contributing to the accident was the lack of an automatic braking system that could have halted the freight train in time to avoid the crash, investigators said. The NTSB has been pushing other federal regulators for years to make the device mandatory on trains.

Burlington Northern crew members “were insufficiently attentive to the operation of their train, with the result that they failed to see, identify, and respond appropriately” to the signal system, NTSB investigators concluded. At an NTSB hearing in Washington on Tuesday, investigators said the two men were distracted by a conversation about nonwork matters and failed to recognize the yellow signal.

Lena Kent, a Burlington Northern spokeswoman, said the railway will study the NTSB report to determine what steps to take. She said both crew members involved in the accident have been dismissed, and that the railway is working diligently to install automatic brakes on their trains.

The milelong freight train, which was eastbound, plowed head-on into a double-decker commuter train April 23, 2002, at the height of the morning rush hour. About 300 people were aboard the westbound Metrolink train.

The impact sent scores of passengers flying through the air in a tumble of newspapers, eyeglasses and seat cushions. More than 80 were seriously hurt. The three fatalities were the first deaths in Metrolink’s 10-year history.

Investigators said the freight train rolled through the signals and hit the commuter train at more than 20 mph, after a futile attempt to stop. The Burlington Northern crew, an engineer and conductor, jumped from their locomotive just before the crash.

The wife of one passenger who died said she believes the most significant finding was the lack of an automatic braking system.

“I don’t necessarily blame the engineer and the conductor,” said Ann Kube of Moreno Valley, whose husband, Robert, 59, died in the crash. “I blame BNSF. I am amazed that they have not taken advantage of available technology to protect employees and innocent bystanders waiting on Metrolink trains to go to work. They don’t care about people. They care about money.”

Kube, who has two daughters, is one of more than 150 Metrolink passengers who have filed lawsuits against Burlington Northern in Orange County Superior Court.

Richard Bridgford, a Newport Beach attorney who represents Kube, alleges that available automatic braking systems could have prevented the crash. He also contends in the lawsuit that Burlington Northern management knew that the conductor was prone to losing track of signals and that fatigue might have been a factor in the crash.

In their report, NTSB officials reiterated long-standing recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration that automatic braking systems be developed and installed nationwide, especially in high-risk corridors where passenger trains operate.

Since 1999, 30 accidents nationwide could have been prevented by such systems, investigators said.

“It’s time to get going,” said NTSB chairwoman Ellen Engleman at the Washington hearing Tuesday. “The technology is being developed.... Let’s get it implemented.”

The computerized mechanisms, which are linked to signals, apply the brakes automatically if crew members miss warning lights or the train is on a collision course.

Investigators further requested that the Assn. of American Railroads, an industry organization, report to the NTSB on the progress toward implementing such an automated control system.

Although the technology has been around for nearly two decades, the railroad industry and federal officials have resisted the system, saying the cost -- an estimated $1.2 billion to $8 billion -- is too high and the technology must be reliable and uniform throughout the nation’s rail system.

Only a few U.S. rail lines have the braking system.

A number of pilot projects, however, are getting underway around the county, particularly in Illinois, where Burlington Northern and Union Pacific, with federal assistance, are setting up demonstration projects in separate rail corridors.

Dozens of locomotives will be equipped with automated braking systems, on-board computers and global-positioning devices to help engineers determine the locations of signals, crossings, buildings and other trains.

“We need to look at whether it works, whether it can be used all over the country, and whether it is affordable,” said Tom White, a spokesman for the Assn. of American Railroads. “We have not been the least bit laggard on this. We have been heavily involved since the 1980s.”

Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, said the regulatory agency has invested more than $66 million to advance automated braking systems. He said federal standards for the technology will be issued in the near future.

Although the high-tech systems are not in widespread use, Flatau said existing safeguards are “more than adequate” and they are applied successfully every day by train crews.

In the Placentia crash, investigators largely focused on a lack of attention by the Burlington Northern engineer and conductor. The NTSB found no evidence that fatigue, alcohol, drugs or mechanical problems played a role.

Among other things, the NTSB concluded that the conductor was not adequately keeping track of signals as he observed them. Had he been doing so, investigators said, he might have been more aware and not misidentified the yellow warning signal as an all clear.

The NTSB recommended that Burlington Northern revise its procedures to require crews to record the time, train speed and type of signal immediately after the signals are encountered.

Investigators further noted that serious abdominal injuries to many of the Metrolink passengers likely resulted from hitting work tables on the train.

The NTSB also said there was a lack of exterior markings on some emergency exit windows of Metrolink cars that might hinder rescuers in future accidents.

They recommended to the Federal Railroad Administration that the markings be improved.

Sharon Gavin, a Metrolink spokeswoman, said the safety of table designs is being studied at a national transportation research center in Colorado. Two months after the accident, she said, Metrolink marked the emergency exits in question on all trains.

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Times staff writer Shweta Govindarajan contributed to this report from Washington.